Gyakie blends Afrobeats, R&B and soul to create a sound that’s all her own
It’s a Wednesday morning and I’ve taken a 45-minute, traffic-filled journey to the SunBet Arena at Time Square Casino in Pretoria. As I arrive, I make my way inside to find a bevy of women dressed to the nines.
These women are gathered for a common goal — to gain industry knowledge and insight from Africa’s leading women in fields such as entertainment, business and government. Just three days shy of International Women’s Day, they were attending the Forbes Woman Africa Leading Women Summit.
There are two West-African singers I am particularly excited to see.
The first being Nigerian Grammy-award winning artist Tems. Much to my disappointment, she wasn’t able to make it — the reason wasn’t made clear to attendees. I knew I wasn’t alone in this. Earlier on I had overheard two women talking about how they had bought tickets specifically to see the Afrobeats singer.
The second was an Afro-fusion Ghanaian artist by the name of Gyakie. I must admit, I wasn’t familiar with who she was until recently. A friend told me, “She’s like the Tems of Afrobeats in Ghana.” While I don’t particularly like it when women are compared, sometimes it’s necessary to get the point across. Gyakie is a rising star on the African continent — certainly one to watch — and luckily for me, she’s in the building.
She was invited to speak on a panel at the summit. A little while after her discussion concluded, I took the escalators upstairs to a quiet room. Shortly afterwards, Gyakie joined me. I told her I had enjoyed her panel discussion.
“I was so nervous,” she said in her soft, calm voice. “I’ve not spoken on a big panel like that before.”
While there’s a global trend to box all manner of African musical genres under the Afrobeats umbrella, Gyakie is adamant that she does it all and that her sound is called “Afro-fusion”.
“When I started, I didn’t have the genre Afro-fusion in mind until I actually got to realise that I’m somebody that is really good in all the fields. Big shout out to God. So, I’m able to tap into R&B, I’m able to tap into hip-hop, drill, Afrobeats — everything, I’m able to tap in.
“So, I took a step back and I looked at it and I was, like, okay, that means I can actually fuse all these sounds and still be able to speak to my audience the way that I want to.”
The 25-year-old songstress’ musical journey began unexpectedly in 2019 when she was studying international business at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.
Gyakie says her original aim was to go into the world of business after completing her studies, however, life had other plans for her.
“At the time I started, it was something that really wasn’t planned. I bumped into the producer that I did the first song with through a mutual friend and [they were] like, ‘Oh, this is Sosa. He’s my friend who produces.’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, would you be able to send me some beats for me to listen to? Because I love music.’ He sends the beat to me.
“I remember … I was listening to the beat. And it was at that point that I realised that I could write music because the words just started coming to me and I just started writing.
“I finished and I was like, ‘Wait, did I just write my own song?’ That’s when the realisation hit me that I actually am a good writer as well.”
This newfound path for Gyakie was truly realised when people began praising her singing abilities.
“Everybody around me was just like, ‘Wait, you can actually sing. Wait, your voice is actually nice.’ And then I told myself, ‘Hold on, maybe I actually have something special.’
“But I had to take that step because the people that heard the song wanted more. And I feel like their soul and their spirits are connected to it. So, I just had to take on that journey, regardless. Even if it’s not for myself — for the people that have found comfort in my sound, I had to do it for them.”
Gyakie released her first single Love Is Pretty in 2019. Singing in her lower register, she explores the theme of the many ways love is shown and how pretty that love is because of how it makes her feel.
She went on to release multiple singles thereafter, however, there’s one particular song that stands out. Her critically acclaimed Forever catapulted her career from local fame to international recognition.
“When my song Forever became a global song, I was still a student on campus. I’m in class and my song is charting in South Africa, East Africa, Asia, Europe. What? No, like, and I was in my blue shirt and my skirt and my song is just all over the world. That was when I was like, ‘Nah, you’re finally about to make it.’”
Forever sparked TikTok trends, with over 535 000 videos using the song. Gyakie released a remix of the hit song, featuring Afrobeats singer Omah Lay, which went on to peak at #11 on the UK’s Afrobeats Chart. The music video of the remix has 75 million views on YouTube, while the original version has 27 million views.
Although it wasn’t easy, juggling school and music was a challenge that the songbird was determined to overcome.
“I finished my fourth year in university. And I’m so proud because I remember when I was in my third year, I really, really was close to giving up. Because, at that time, I’m doing school, I’m writing an exam and I probably have a show and I’m in a big dilemma. I need to choose between, am I doing this, am I doing this, am I doing that?”
While Gyakie didn’t plan to make music, perhaps it was written in the stars, given her upbringing. She is the daughter of Nana Acheampong, a highlife musician, and the other half of the famous Lumba Brothers.
The singer describes her music and sound as “very different” and “very unique” and that’s partly due to her singing style.
“One of the things that my fans and my audience point out is the texture of my voice because the way I speak is different from the way I sound when I’m singing, because my voice is really deep and low when I’m singing. So, the uniqueness in my voice, my style of music and the kind of sounds I’m able to tap into to make Afro-fusion.”
When it comes to her writing process, Gyakie draws inspiration from the sounds of the beat. The idea for a song can be sparked by just about anything.
“Let me give you a joke. There was a time when I was at my lowest and I remember I was crying. And when I was crying [she chuckles] — this is so funny. When I was crying … it sounded like a melody at one point.
Would you believe I stopped crying? Picked my voice recorder … I did the melody. I did the melody and then I wrote to it. So, I get ideas randomly on the fly — in the washroom, when I’m in meetings, when I’m crying. And the moment that idea comes, I have to record it. No matter how weird it’s gonna look, I have to do it because I’ll end up forgetting.”
Gyakie’s first album After Midnight is in the final stages of completion and is expected to drop within a few months.
“My debut album is coming out this year. Thanks to God. I’ve been working on this project for two years now and I’m finally happy and satisfied. I feel like now I have really understood and I’ve broadened my knowledge about the music and how it works, and I’ve started listening to so many diverse songs and people, so I’ve learned so much and I’ve implemented that in this project.”
In terms of the sound of the album, Gyakie is going back to what feels authentically her.
And while remaining true to her original sound, she will be experimenting with rap. Fans can expect collaborations, however, the names of the artists are still top secret.
“I always say that I’ve had different faces in the music in terms of what I put out. And I feel like, in my first year as an artist, the kind of songs I dropped, when I got into my second and third year, I feel like I almost got distracted and I started doing different sounds. So, now I’ve gone back to that person that used the kind of sound I used to do from 2019.”
